Wednesday, October 29, 2014

*Synced from Seattle and Real Estate Blog
Zillow
is reporting that markets across the country, including Seattle’s, are
seeing a sustained slowdown in home price appreciation that will likely
continue into 2015. At the end of the third quarter this year, annual
appreciation for homes in Seattle stood at 6.9 percent, whereas the
change in the third quarter of 2013 from the previous year was 12.9
percent. Zillow is forecasting that in the third quarter of 2015
appreciation in Seattle will be down to 5 percent.
Nationally, home values grew by 6.5 percent over the past year, which
is down from the peak annual appreciation of 8.1 percent in April of
this year. To give some context, U.S. home values are still 10.1 percent
below their peak in April 2007 at the height of the bubble. In further
evidence of a softening national market, there are 18.6 percent more
homes on the market in the U.S. than there were a year ago, though
Seattle is still seeing very low inventory.
If you are interested in real estate in the Seattle area, contact your local real estate agent today.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

*Synced from Seattle and Real Estate Blog
Seattle condo prices are taking their time to bounce back from the
housing bubble in comparison to single family home prices. With condo
prices down, the market has presented a unique opportunity for renters
who haven’t been able to save for a down-payment to purchase a single
family home. In some of the suburbs around Seattle, condo listing prices
are still well below recovery prices, and low prices paired with low
interest rates means more and more renters have the opportunity to be
new homeowners.
According to the Seattle Times,
out of the 30 suburbs throughout King County listed by the NWMLS, all
but 3 (Bellevue, Kirkland, and downtown Seattle) have not seen the
median home price surpass the 2007 market peak. In 19 of the 36 markets
listed in King and Snohomish County, median home prices are still 20%
below the market peak. Seattle has seen the cost in rent and single
family homes continuously rise, while condo prices have stayed
consistent, or even dropped in some areas. While there are a number of
reasons that a condo market can suffer during a market recession, many
singles, small families and people looking to downsize are turning to
condos for an affordable option towards homeownership. If you’re
interested in learning more about the Seattle condo market, contact your local real estate agent today.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

*Synced from Seattle and Real Estate
One
look at the glut of new towers rising in downtown Seattle and one could
think condos are having their heyday. But it turns out most of those
cranes on the horizon are giving rise to office towers and apartment
buildings, with only one condo tower, Insignia,
currently under construction downtown. Among new (never before sold)
condo units that are on the market, prices have also fallen 8 percent
from their peak in May, according to the Daily Journal of Commerce.
Prices did rise slightly from August to September (2 percent), and
year over year (up 3 percent from September 2013), but are still falling
short of the May peak, when the average price per square foot was $775.
In September, the average sold price per square foot for a new condo
was $716.
According to the Puget Sound Business Journal,
condo construction is expected to pick up in 2015, in part due to the
fact that 170 of the first 350 units at Insignia have already sold,
giving condo developers confidence that the demand will keep up with
supply. It remains to be seen what effect an increased number of units
will have on prices.
If you are interested in purchasing a condo in the Seattle area, contact your local real estate agent today.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

After a sluggish
summer for home price gains in King County, the median price for a
single-family home rose to $460,000 in September, almost 10 percent
higher than a year ago and 5.3 percent higher than August’s median
price, according to an article in Tuesday’s Seattle Times.
The Times says that those numbers, pulled from the Northwest Multiple
Listing Service, point to the best September for home prices in at least
10 years.
The city of Seattle performed the best of all the sub-markets in King
County in September, with the median price having risen to $517,000, 12
percent higher than September 2013. While the median price on the
Eastside was higher than Seattle’s at $605,000, yearly appreciation was
slower at only 6.3 percent. Southwest King County, which includes
Burien, Tukwila, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Federal Way, and
West Kent, continues to be the most affordable sub-market with a median
price of $267,250, though that is still up 6.7 percent from September
2013.
Despite the price increase over the past year, the number of closed
sales has actually decreased in every sub-market in King County except
Seattle, which still only saw one more sale in September 2014 (643) than
in September 2013 (642). North King County saw the biggest decrease in
closed sales, having dropped 17 percent from September 2013. Agents
quoted in the article say this could be the result of buyers’ fatigue
after months of low inventory sparking bidding wars and extreme price
increases.
For more information on Seattle-area real estate, contact your local real estate agent today.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

*Synced from Seattle and Real Estate Blog
Home
prices in the Seattle area (King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties) rose
by 0.6 percent from June to July, but for the fifth straight month
year-over-year appreciation slowed, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Index released yesterday.
Annual appreciation of existing single-family homes in July was 7.1
percent (its lowest since October 2012), down from 8 percent from June.
The Case-Shiller report called this part of a “broad-based easing of
home price gains” nationally, as 19 of the 20 cities in the index
recorded slower gains than they recorded in June. As a comparison,
between June 2013 and July 2013 prices grew by almost 2 percent, and
annual appreciation was at 12.5 percent. Despite this slowdown,
MyNorthwest is reporting that data from housing tracker RealtyTrac shows
that Seattle was ranked fifth in the nation for home appreciation in
August, behind only Cincinnati, Cleveland, Miami, and Pittsburgh.
If you would like more information on Seattle real estate, contact your local real estate agent today.